What a wonderful sense of history and of travelling through the sub-continent conjures up in one?s mind when one thinks of the Frontier Mail. This train was an intrinsic part of travel in north and north-west India and its original final destination was Peshawar. With Partition, Amritsar became the final destination. Some years ago, true to character, the government changed the name of this historic train and re-christened it the Golden Temple Mail. Why and for what? To appease a bunch of MLAs in Punjab? Why do we run away from our history? I recall as a child, it was a treat to travel on the Frontier Mail…the chicken curry and rice was to die for, much better than any five-star fare of today. It was a clean, efficient and delightful train with dining car and all.
Circa 2003, instead of an improvement in the service, there is rampant deterioration. The Golden Temple Mail is a smelly and tatty train that in fact insults the great Golden Temple. Shame that the Indian Railways have destroyed a symbol of efficiency and style. We have reduced ourselves to being a country where all government operations smack of ineptitude and carelessness. Why does Nitish Kumar not make it his business to restore the pride of the Indian Railways? One would imagine that they would have built on the past but they have done the reverse. Bad taste is all pervasive because it is left to babus who know no better. The New Year resolution of the minister should be to restore dignity to his products and put them back on track!
We have this terrible knack of changing names. We seem so insecure about our past. King George the fifth was unceremoniously removed from his pedestal behind India Gate in New Delhi. They thought they had put away a slice of imperial history. I often think they will wake up one morning and bulldoze Rashtrapati Bhavan because it was built by the Brits as the home of the Viceroy of India! The names of roads are changed with amazing regularity…instead of giving those new names to the new roads. This is fake nationalism and generates no pride at all. And, the reality is that our history will remain our history…only interpretations will change with time. So then why drop the edifices that represent a diverse past? One day, in the new millennium, this parochial attitude will boomerang and we will mature as a confident nation of the 21st century.
And the multinational bottlers of ?pure? water, along with their Indian clones, have been exposed…having earlier destroyed our geological rocks by painting adverts on them they have now begun to get our guts. What would happen in the US if bottled water marketed there was found to be adulterated? Just curious. Or, are there different rules for different colours? Someone should file a PIL. Let us show our paces. That is what will begin to restore the pride and confidence.
It is the polo season in Delhi. Every Sunday the stalls at the Jaipur Polo Ground will be overflowing with sports freaks as well as the glitterati and chatterati. This game has clearly become the sport of the capital. Equisport, a company conceived of and run by Major Adhiraj Singh, no longer with the army, is responsible for placing Indian polo on the map. Impeccably organised, the tournaments in Delhi are comparable to the grand polo galas anywhere in the world. Thank the lord for private initiative and quality aspiration.
Delhi is energising itself. There promises to be regular weekend theatre shortly which is the first sign of the city establishing itself as the cultural capital of India. It is the one metro that is not deteriorating and slowly dying. It is improving with every passing day. Activities are on the upswing, there is much to choose from and often one misses out on an event because there is no time! Even the dry, hot months have lots happening…finally, a twelve-month season. The ripple effect can be seen in Jaipur which is fast becoming a lively city, followed by Patiala where a large festival is being organised this month…all to draw in the crowds.